Twist My Fate
by BitterSweetNitemare
Summary: Not even two days deceased, Rukia makes a deal with an orange haired man who calls himself a shinigami, "Give me four days, and I'll go to this Soul society place with no fuss. Okay, Shinigami?"/ "It's not 'Shinigami.' The name's Kurosaki Ichigo." IchiRuki AU Takes place in Karakura and the Soul society
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:**

This is**_ Part I of II_**. **The first part takes place in Karakura, and the second takes part in Soul Society**. It's technically a longish story.

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**Disclaimer: **Bleach owns me.

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_**Prologue…**_

_The world had suddenly stopped, time freezing before her eyes.  
_

_She was floating in a dark void aimlessly, waiting for her consciousness to return to her. She neither felt pain nor relief. She held no regretful thoughts that burdened her, and thought of nothing, but her present._

_Feeling the cold pavement beneath her, Rukia sat up abruptly, taking in her surroundings. When she noticed the sound of rattling metal, and the heavy feeling against her chest, she looked down, blinking several times at the chain protruding from her chest. She wasn't sure if she was dreaming, but the chain felt incredibly real, even down to the metallic smell. She fingered the chain, feeling the cold metal beneath her fingers, debating if she should be concerned or not. _

_But of course, that was the least of her problems at the moment. _

_A few feet away, lay her still bloody corpse on the sidewalk. It was currently twilight, and she could barely make out her disturbed figure. Her eyes were open and there were bullets lodged into her head, neck, and abdomen, leaving her to bleed to death on the sidewalk. It was appalling to see herself in such a state, but it was probably worse for the people watching, the people who survived. _

_There had been a shooting, and she, as well as several other people, were victims. They had been at the wrong place at the wrong time. If she remembered correctly, she had blocked a young mother and her child who had been walking in front of her during the time of the shooting. And she was happy to know her efforts weren't put to waste. The same mother and child, as well as a few other survivors, were being laid on gurneys and brought to the hospital in ambulances; they were injured, but not dead. _

_Crowds of people gathered around the "crime scene," while the police investigated the scene with the siren lights on their cars blinking continuously. She felt rather claustrophobic and uncomfortable with so many people around, but it wasn't like she had a say in anything. She was dead after all. _

_Tired of the thick scent of death in the air, she stood up, stretching her arms to get some feeling back into her limbs. She still felt as alive as she did that morning, but there was one difference that reminded her that she wasn't alive; no one could see her. She didn't really mind that though. She never had many friends, and didn't like to talk to many people anyway._

_She blankly stared at her corpse one last time before turning and walking away, past the crowds of people._

* * *

_**Chapter 1: Twist My Fate**_

"Kurosaki-fukutaichou!" called one of his subordinates. Ichigo popped open one of his eyes and turned toward the source of the noise, debating whether to sit up or not.

"What?" he asked, a slight scowl adorning his uninterested face. He watched as the seated shinigami ran up to him, heaving for breath while holding a report, which was probably meant to be given to him.

After catching his breath, the shinigami handed him the report, "The last patrol group sent to the world of the living encountered Grand Fisher, and was killed," he said quickly, intimidated by his superior's scowl.

Immediately from hearing the news, Ichigo sat up, "All of them killed? Grand Fisher usually evades shinigami. Still, he can't be that strong."

"Well, I don't know, sir. Apparently, Grand Fisher is strong enough to handle several low ranked officers," the seated shinigami said, laughing nervously.

"Even you?" Ichigo asked, stretching his arms out.

"Ano… I-I don't know, sir," he said, not knowing how to answer his superior. Yes? No? What if he said something ludicrous? What if what he said was wrong?

The orange haired fuku-taichou raised one of his brows at the child-like shinigami in front of him, chuckling, "Stop squirming so much, kid." He stood up and ruffled the shinigami's head, "Thanks by the way, and could you give this to Ukitake-taichou," he handed the kid some paperwork, and walked away, waving his hand in the air.

As he walked back to his office, he yawned and scratched his head, groaning at the thought of doing the paperwork he had ignored. He didn't mind doing it all that much, but he just liked sleeping much better. And that served as a problem since his taichou was also rather reluctant to do paperwork most of the time.

Ichigo was part of the fifth division under the command of Hirako Shinji, but he kept in touch with Ukitake Jushiro, who was the captain of the thirteenth division. Currently, the thirteenth was without a fuku-taichou, and as the cousin of the late fuku-taichou, Shiba Kaien, he often helped out when Kiyone and Sentarou were running errands.

Once he reached his office, he entered, not even bothering to slide the shoji doors closed, and plopped down onto the cushion he often sat on when signing papers. He sighed heavily, looking at the piles of paperwork that he hadn't touched in two days, regretting not doing them sooner. He inhaled deeply, mentally preparing himself and began to work, clearing his mind of everything but his work.

In some divisions, the taichou and fuku-taichou shared an office, like in the tenth, but for the fifth they had separate offices, much to Ichigo's relief. If he had to stay in a room with Hirako Shinji for more than five hours, he would probably explode.

A few hours past and he was nearly done when Shinji came walking in with a bottle of sake in hand, "Oi, Ichigo, how about some sake?" he sat down in front the small table and dropped the sake bottle on top of it.

"Beat it, Shinji," said Ichigo, rolling his eyes. "I never get anything done 'cause you always come in here and distract me! Don't you have your own paperwork to do?" he glared at the blonde haired man, and proceeded to do his work.

"Of course I do! But we have plenty of other seated officers to do our work for us," laughed Shinji, his bowl cut hair swaying unnaturally. "Momo's more than happy to help!"

Ichigo's eyebrows scrunched up more than they were before, "You can't just throw your work onto your third seat, asshole." He signed the last paper before slamming it onto the top of the "done" pile.

Shinji smirked, "Exactly. That's why I throw it onto you. I couldn't possibly have such a sweet maiden do my work," he said, his smirk growing.

"How are you my commanding officer, again?"

"Because I'm stronger, more experienced, better at kidou, better at not acting on impulse, and am just better looking in general," answered the blonde shinigami, his voice turning a little arrogant near the end.

Again, Ichigo rolled his eyes, "So, why are you here?"

Shinji's attitude then turned more serious, opposed to his previous behavior, "About the last few hollow incidents, the Grand Fisher has been a dick lately, and it's getting annoying how none of the unseated and seated shinigami can defeat him… which is where you come in."

Ichigo raised a brow, waiting for him to continue.

"I'm going to send you to the world of the living to beat the hell outta him," Shinji smirked, and unceremoniously fell down to the floor, and lied down. "I also need you to give something to Hiyori for me."

"You're going to send me down for something as stupid as that? Why don't you just send Hinamori, or… the fourth or fifth seats?" Ichigo paused a moment, unable to remember the names of the fourth and fifth seats. He brushed it off as unimportant at the moment, and continued to stare his taichou down.

"Yeah, what's the problem? It's not like you do anything anyways, and I can't have girls doing my dirty work," answered the other shinigami. "Plus, I can't have them knowing I've been sending Hiyori crap."

"Why?"

"Because they'll get jealous."

Ichigo inhaled deeply, suppressing the urge to step on Shinji's face. He really didn't mind going down, but he was second out of his whole division, and the only real work he did was run his taichou's ludicrous errands. All the divisions were run differently depending on the taichou, and he sometimes wondered why he joined the one he did.

He sighed, straightening out his thoughts, "Fine, I'll go. How long?"

"A week and a half. It shouldn't take you too long to find Grand fisher, and with the remaining time, I promised Lisa you would help her with some things," Shinji flashed one of those fake smiles that made anyone who saw it want to deck him in the face. "Don't worry, it's nothing mu-," instantly Ichigo's foot met with Shinji's face.

* * *

"So... the perks of being dead?" Rukia asked, to no one in particular. She leaned up against the pole, watching children as they played in the park unaware that dusk was soon approaching.

She reminisced about her current "deceased" status, thinking back to her days alive. She recalled seeing spirits near her home throughout her life. No one ever saw them, but she occasionally could see or sense them. They never scared her though; she merely found them interesting. Sometimes, she could even see spirits that wore black kimonos move from atop the buildings with their swords. She had to admit, she _was _slightly concerned about her sanity at that point, but since those kimono-wearing spirits didn't affect her life in any way, she chose to ignore them.

She yawned, watching as the sun began to set. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do now. Weren't ghosts supposed to go to the afterlife… world place? Yeah, she sounded ridiculous, but being freshly dead, she was ignorant of what was supposed to happen after death. What did the chain mean? And why is she still on earth if she had no regrets or negative feelings?

Sighing from all the unanswered questions, she got off the pole and walked elsewhere.

She had no family, so she didn't have anything to take care of other than her pet rabbit. And she never kept many belongings, so there was nothing she was heavily attached to. She had only had two close friends, one of which balled her eyes out for five hours the moment she heard the news. That friend was Inoue Orihime. She was always sensitive, and her childish ways never failed to bring a smile onto other's faces. Her other friend, Arisawa Tatsuki was better at masking her emotions. She and Tatsuki had many things in common, like their belief that they had to be strong and hide their emotions so that people like Orihime wouldn't be overwhelmed by too many emotions, if that made any sense. Tatsuki, despite being equally sad about her death, allowed the bustier woman to cry her share of tears as she knew there was no way of stopping the waterworks any time in the near future.

It was depressing to say the least to see her friends that way, but she had no control or say in the actions of the living.

Bored, Rukia checked her apartment. She was glad to find everything the way she had left it; she forgot to turn off the coffee machine though, but that was common. Her clothes were still neatly hung on the hangers in her closet, and a single bowl and lone spoon sat waiting to be cleaned in the sink. Now that she looked back at her apartment, she realized how depressing her life was. Her parents died when she was a baby, her sister Hisana died way before she could even remember, and she just died yesterday as a twenty-two year old without many friends or even a lover.

What a sob story.

Yawning, Rukia sat down on her sleek couch and watched the city from afar through her living room windows. She could hear her rabbit, Chappy, destroying something in her cage in her room, and smiled, finding it kind of comfortable. She eventually fell asleep as the sun dropped lower below the horizon, caressing her body in darkness.

Later that night, she woke up to the sound of a roar, or some kind of inhuman cry. She sat up immediately, and went outside, nearly falling over at the feeling of pressure against her body. She heard the cry again, but she wasn't sure what it was, or where it was coming from.

She looked around to find that others didn't even notice the loud cry, and came to realize that whatever was causing the disturbance was a spirit. She walked in the direction of where the cry came from, and felt the pressure that enveloped her become more intense, as if strangling her. Before she knew it, she was at the park from earlier. The only thing present was another ghost, a boy, except this one was different.

The chain on his chest was practically destroyed and the ghost was grabbing onto his chest in pain, letting out that bestial cry she had been hearing.

She stared, her eyes wide in fear. What was going on? She had never seen something quite like this, and it frightened her to know that something like this could happen. The chain on the ghost's chest completely eroded, leaving a black hole where it previously was. Roaring again, a thick white fluid began to burst out of the ghost's mouth, covering his face to make a white mask. The ghost, or rather creature, jumped into the air with much power, leaving a hole in the ground.

Surprised, Rukia looked around the area, rather insecure. "Where did… ?" as if on cue, the creature pounced down behind her with so much force, nearly knocking her over. She gasped quickly, ducking and rolling away when its claws came forward.

The inhuman creature was certainly a sight to see. It didn't resemble anything she had ever seen in her life other than demons from the horror movies Tatsuki had forced her to watch. Its white bone-like mask had slanted holes for its unnatural black eyes while its mouth consisted of only sharp teeth, befitting of a monster.

Getting up quickly, she pulled off her heels, and as some sort of effort to distract it, she flung the heels towards its mask. And as she expected, it barely grazed the creature, but it was worth a try though.

Biting her lip, she ran for her life, questioning the situation. _Wait, why am I even running if I'm already dead? Is it possible to die twice? _she thought, scrunching her eyebrows. She glanced back, to see the creature jumping full speed at her. "Shit… !"

A single clawed hand came crashing towards her, causing her to dodge by jumping away. One of the claws slashed at her leg, causing her gasp loudly.

She was so lucky that used to run the track and take self-defense classes. Sure, the self-defense lessons didn't really help her in this situation, but it did aid her in avoiding the monster's claws. Tatsuki always did praise her on her cat-like reflexes, if that was something to be proud of.

As if the sharp claws weren't enough, it began shooting some sort of substance from out of its mouth. Just from observing its misses, the substance had a high acidity, and could most likely burn through her skin. "Just my luck," she hissed, attempting to avoid the shots of acid. She continued running, fear enveloping her insides. The creature proceeded to follow her from the roofs of the building, easily outrunning her with its strong limbs.

It roared, sharpening its claws before jumping off a building and landing directly in front of her. She screamed, falling backwards to dodge the hit directed at her neck, her back meeting with the cold pavement painfully. She tried to get away, but the creature grabbed a hold of her waist, the sharp claws digging into her flesh. It licked its lips, bringing her up to its mouth. She struggled and kicked, but met no success, "This is pathetic. I haven't even been dead for two days, and I'm about to die again!" out of frustration, she kicked at the edges of the creature's mouth several times, trying her best keep herself from being eaten.

Suddenly, the arm that held on to her was slashed apart, leading her to fall to the ground, "Hmph!" Blood splashed out of the arm, staining her face and clothing. Her clothes were already stained from the blood of when she was shot, but now it was further stained, practically drenched in blood.

She quickly sat up, prying the claws away from her abdomen. She looked up to see what had slashed the monster to find one of the black kimono clothed spirits she sometimes saw. Despite having the moon as the only source of light, she could barely make out a head full of unruly orange hair.

She blinked several times as the male spirit slashed at the creature with his meat cleaver sword as if he was cutting through butter. He then jumped into the air and cut the creature in half, smashing its mask in the process. The creature then disintegrated into nothing, leaving only the spirit of the ghost that she had originally saw transform left. Soon, that spirit began fade away in white before turning into a small ball of light that floated up to the sky. Rukia stared in awe, completely forgetting her surroundings.

"Oi, you going to keep staring or are you going to get up?" she blinked again, realizing the spirit was standing in front of her, a mix of a scowl and a smirk on his face. He lent her his hand, which she gladly took.

"What was that creature?" she asked, brushing dirt off of her clothing.

The guy looked at her, "That was a hollow. They're corrupted souls that feed on other spirits," he answered simply, resting the back of his blade on his shoulder. The end of the hilt of his sword began to glow, "So, to further avoid that kind of situation, I'm going to send you to Soul Society, or what humans call, 'the afterlife.'"

She frowned, "What?" Corrupted souls that fed on other spirits? Soul society? None of this was computing.

"What do you mean, 'what?'"

She lifted a single brow, crossing her arms, "I don't understand this whole situation. I'm dead, and you're dead. But why are there 'hollows' running around everywhere, and what is this 'Soul society' place you speak of? And what exactly are you?" Normally, she was a fast learner, but she couldn't quite grasp the concept of this other world that had existed that she wasn't aware of. All those times she was simply living her life, there were hollows outside killing spirits even after death. She had some sort of aptitude for seeing ghosts, but never once did she encounter a hollow.

The man raised both his eyebrows, surprised at her curiosity, "You're going to end up in Soul Society anyways. It's pointless to try and understand it now," he said, shrugging. Seeing as she wouldn't give up on the subject until he told her, he sighed and plopped down onto the ground casually.

She lifted her brow higher on her head before also sitting down.

"Let's start from the beginning," he said, mentally groaning at the long lesson he was about to give. Why was he even telling her this? He could quickly perform konso and be on his way. "You are a plus, or a ghost. That chain on your chest is known as your chain of fate; it binds you to your body. Long story short, if that chain completely corrodes, you turn into a hollow. I'm a shinigami, or a death god, and you could say I lead pluses to the other world before they can become hollows, and then I cleanse the roaming hollows."

Rukia nodded her head, all the new information processing in her internal computer.

"So, to prevent you from being devoured by a hollow, or to become one, I need to perform konso on you, or a ritual that sends you to hell or Soul Society," he said, amused at her facial expression. "And I don't need to explain what Soul Society is since you'll find out for yourself," he was only a _little _bit impatient to send her.

She eyed him suspiciously, "If you think I'm going, you guessed wrong."

Now this turned his previous look of amusement into a frown, "What do you mean you're not going? You'll be either turned into a hollow, or eaten by one."

"I'll go eventually, but there are still some things in this world that I want to see off," she said, standing up. The wind blew her hair wildly around her face, swaying her clothing as she stood in front of the moon. "How about this, give me four days, and I'll go to this Soul society place with no fuss. Okay, Shinigami?" she reasoned, a small grin on her face.

She offered him her hand, which he looked at, smirking. That didn't sound too bad, and since he would still be here during that time, he could watch over her in case her chain of fate decided to give out. "Fine, only four days. And it's not 'Shinigami.' The name's Kurosaki Ichigo," he said, taking her hand, his smirk still on his face.

"I'm… Rukia, just, Rukia," she said, readying herself to forget her previous life.

* * *

_Preview… _

"_There's nothing you can do for them anymore," he said, leaning on the railing of the bridge, glancing at Rukia from his peripheral vision._

_She scrunched her eyebrows and looked down at the water, resting her arms on the railing, "I know that, but seeing their daily problems, and knowing how to solve them, but not being able to… it's a nuisance," she said, exhaling._

_Ichigo sighed, enjoying the breeze that blew his orange strands away from his face, "Can't say no to that," he looked up the twilight sky, thinking. "It seems you haven't completely accepted death yet."_

_Rukia rolled her eyes, "Who can within a few days?" she chuckled, pushing herself off the railing. "There's no point in sulking anymore is there?_

_"Oh, and by the way, there's a hollow over there," she said, pointing in the direction where a garganta had opened, a hollow coming through.  
_

_He widened his eyes as his hollow detector went off. Normally pluses couldn't sense hollows, but she sensed it even before his hollow detector went off. _

_She might actually be useful for something after all._

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**Please tell me what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2: Day I

**_Chapter 2: Day I_**

After shaking hands with the shinigami who called himself, Kurosaki Ichigo, Rukia engaged in meaningless conversation with him which lasted a minute before they parted ways. She was sure that on the fourth day, he would be able to find her with no problem as shinigami apparently had special "sensing" abilities. She wasn't sure what he called it, but she was sure it was "reiatsu" or something similar to that. He also told her, despite her being a plus, she had a notable amount that was far more noticeable than any other plus he had encountered in the "world of the living," as he called it.

He then left her with a mere, "Don't get eaten," before jumping into the air and disappearing into the sky. She wasn't sure where he was going, but she guessed he was going to look out for more hollows.

The next day, she had been staring out the window of her apartment when her friends, Orihime and Tatsuki arrived at her apartment. She knew they couldn't see her, and chuckled at the thought of pushing something off the coffee table just to see their reactions. She realized that while ghosts could move through objects, they could also physically move and touch them as well.

"I should go feed Chappy… that's what Rukia-chan would have wanted us to do," said Orihime, her voice shaking, readying herself to start the waterworks. Rukia recognized that baby face she often made when sad, happy, and angry, and couldn't help but roll her eyes.

Tatsuki sighed, and pat the other woman's head, "Orihime… I know I can't stop you, but there's no use crying anymore. If Rukia were here, and she saw you crying over her, she'd frown and give you one of those boring lectures."

Orihime sniffled and nodded her head before walking over to Rukia's room where her rabbit, "Chappy" was sleeping in her cage.

_They thought my reprimands were boring lectures?_ Thought Rukia, only slightly offended.

While the bustier woman fed Rukia's rabbit, Tatsuki went into the kitchen to organize Rukia's belongings. Her late friend was never messy; she always had few belongings that were easily organized. Sometimes, she kept her work space so organized and orderly that everyone believed she had obsessive compulsive disorder. She wasn't prudish about it though. She wasn't exactly the definition of prissy, but she held her ground and managed to do everything, including running after a taxi, with grace and style.

Rolling her eyes, Tatsuki took the empty bowl in the sink and began to clean it, "Like I always said, you don't eat enough. That's why you ar- were so pint sized," she said, a small smile making it to her face.

_Pint sized? _Rukia lifted one of her brows, interested in hearing more. She jumped, or rather floated onto the counter and crossed her legs.

"You know, I still don't know why you loved these bowls so much. They're heavy as hell, and too big for your hands," the short haired woman complained, staring at the ceramic bowl with a bunny printed on it. "Plus, the rabbit creature on it is ugly."

Instantly, Rukia narrowed her eyes, "I drew that you know!" she said, crossing her arms.

Blinking, Tatsuki looked around the room, raising an eyebrow. "That's funny, I thought I heard Rukia," she said, tilting her head a bit. After a moment, she laughed and shrugged it off as her imagination. She swore she heard Rukia's voice, but that was crazy. There was no way ghosts existed. Although, her violet eyed friend was rather persistent, so maybe she forced her ghostly self to stay on earth until she was sure her apartment was completely cleaned out and her rabbit was in good hands. And also to assure that Orihime had stopped crying oceans.

Little did Tatsuki know that she was absolutely correct.

Rukia frowned, unaware that her voice could be heard by others, or at least by Tatsuki.

"Tatsuki-chan! How do you change a bunny's litter box? Do you pour everything out, or do you just scoop up the yucky parts?" called Orihime from the other side of the apartment, clueless.

Tatsuki sighed, and left the kitchen with Rukia following behind. "Do rabbits even use litter boxes?" she grumbled to herself, staring at Chappy's cage. "Damn, Rukia spoiled you didn't she?" she said, her eyes wide. The bunny had a bed that looked more comfortable than even her own bed at home! No, it had a bed even better than Rukia's, which was extremely comfy by the way!

"How can you not spoil such a cute bunny?" said Rukia, ogling her bunny. She literally melted when Chappy blinked up at her, "So cute!"

Tatsuki and Orihime exchanged confused glances, feeling a bit uncomfortable. "Ano… did you hear that?" asked Orihime, rubbing the side of her arm with her hand, nervous.

"Yeah, I did. That happened before in the kitchen too. I thought it was nothing, but here it is again," Tatsuki looked around the room casually as if it was a daily occurrence for her to hear voices. "Sounded like Rukia to me."

"It did… but we can't say for sure. Maybe Rukia-chan's apartment is haunted, and she's been living like this for years! I remember her say she could sometimes see ghosties!" The auburn haired woman looked in every direction, paranoid.

As for the said ghost, she realized she slipped up again, and smiled awkwardly, curious as to what they were going to do next.

Tatsuki grinned evilly, "There's only one way to find out if it's her or not," she said, picking up a book from the nightstand. She then took out a lighter from her pocket and brought it up to the book.

Orihime gasped, "Tatsuki-chan! You shouldn't play games with the dead! That's scary, and not nice!" she said, sweating bullets. "Plus, that's Rukia's favorite fanbook! She'll come back alive just to kill you if you burn it!"

"Well, if she's here right now, she can just take it away from me," the other woman lit the lighter, slowly bringing it up to the book.

Sucking in a breath, Rukia debated her options. Knock the book away, or accept her death? She bit her lip, on the verge of tears. It had taken all her effort to find that fanbook without having to step within a manga convention, and possibly ruin her reputation! There was no damn way she was going to let Tatsuki burn it, even if she was dead!

As the lighter was about to reach two centimeters in distance to the book, it was suddenly knocked to the floor by an invisible force, causing Orihime to squeal.

Again, the two exchanged looks, there was no way whoever did that wasn't Rukia. "Rukia?" asked Tatsuki casually, "Now that you're here, I would like to say that… you never returned that video game I lent you five months ago."

"Tatsuki-chan!" frowned Orihime, crossing her arms in disapproval, "That's rude! Rukia-chan is dead, and all you can think about is a silly video game?"

The other woman shrugged, "Yeah, if I started getting all out of character, Rukia will kill me for real," she said, dropping herself on Rukia's bed comfortably. "So, where is it?"

Rolling her eyes, Rukia placed her hands on her hips and looked around her room. To be honest, she wasn't really sure where it was. Maybe it was in the living room? She was normally organized, but she didn't quite remember where the game was. It wasn't that it was lost; she just couldn't remember where she put it last. It should been near her game console, but it wasn't.

Moving towards the living room, she kicked her door as an indication that she was moving. Noticing the noise, her friends took the hint and migrated.

* * *

"Bye, Rukia-chan! I'll be back to feed Chappy later," said Orihime, putting on her shoes.

"It should be creepy that we're talking to a ghost, but it's not," Tatsuki crossed her arms, leaning against the door.

"It's not that creepy," the other woman shrugged, "Okay… maybe it is a bit strange, but nothing out of the ordinary. I sometimes hear voices in my house too."

"At least I'm not the only one."

With that said, they both said their good byes before exiting, unaware that their late friend was fully intent on following them. She wasn't going to stalk them of course, but she wasn't really fond of staying home alone anyways. And "stalking" wasn't exactly the correct term to use either.

"So… do you think they put the flowers next to her… coffin?" asked Orihime, her bubbly attitude disappearing, most likely talking about the preparations for Rukia's funeral.

"Well, they should, unless they think the flowers should be put somewhere else in the room. But that's a ticket to getting an ass kicking from me."

"No negative feelings! It's tomorrow and we have to be serious!"

"I know. It'll be kind of awkward if Rukia's there, at her own funeral," Tatsuki crossed her arms and thought about it. "She might brew up a storm in there just to scare people shitless."

"She probably would too! Everyone from her job is coming, and if I recall, there were a few people whom Rukia complained about constantly," Orihime placed a finger on her chin, thinking with much concentration.

Rukia chuckled, finding this all too amusing. At least now, she was allowed to eavesdrop on people's conversations. To be honest, some of them were so messed up she wasn't even sure she lived on a planet run by humans anymore.

"I remember her ranting about them. They weren't rude; I think she just thought they were annoying. They talked most of the time and made other people do their work for them, and smelled like prostitutes," laughed Tatsuki, lifting her eyebrow when she noticed a man staring at them, quite noticeably.

It seemed Orihime noticed too and turned her attention to the man. He was walking on the other side of the street with a convenience store bag in hand. He looked rather ordinary with the exception of his bright orange hair, and his scowl. He was looking directly at them, yet quite not; it was almost like he was looking through them.

Checking behind her, and finding nothing, Orihime asked shyly, "A-ano… do you need something, sir?" One could tell she was blushing, but not why. She was a rather shy person and usually blushed lightly, but this blush was rather darker than usual.

The man blinked in surprise and actually _looked_ at them, "Ah, no, it's nothing. Don't worry about it. I just blanked out for a second," he said, a small polite smile on his face. He looked away awkwardly, and scratched the back of his head as if nothing happened and continued walking.

In truth, he had seen Rukia behind the two women whom he presumed were her friends. She didn't notice him at first, but when she did, she had widened her eyes in surprise when she realized Tatsuki and Orihime were looking at him as well. Their eyes met for a moment before Orihime interrupted the silence with her question.

"Oh, okay," said Orihime, nodding. Her and Tatsuki then turned their attention back to the area in front of them and continued walking. Rather than following them, Rukia decided to go with Ichigo, sparing her friends one more glance.

While she could just float, she chose to walk due to the habit of doing it when she was alive. "So, how come they can see you?" she questioned casually, catching up to the shinigami she had just met yesterday.

"I'm using a gigai."

"Gigai?"

"It's an artificial body shinigami use when in the world of living to avoid attracting hollows, and I don't know? Shop?" Ichigo shrugged, trying to find a real reason why shinigami would need gigais. If he remembered, Rangiku went to the world of the living often to buy high-end make up and brand name handbags using a gigai, which was probably not the most efficient reason, but it was definitely useful for trivial things such as that.

"You guys have time for that?"

"Of course we do. There aren't hollows around constantly, and it gets boring just watching people all the time when you could talk to them too."

She put her hands behind her, watching as the clouds moved, "Then won't it look weird if you're talking to nobody?"

"People don't pay attention."

"Well, with that hair of yours, you're bound to get attention," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I don't really care; people can do what they want. As long as they don't get in my way," he said, yawning.

They walked in silence for the next few minutes before she stopped, causing Ichigo to stop as well and turn to her curiously. He followed her gaze and found a woman and her toddler walking down the street in front of them, looking at the shapes of the clouds.

"Do you know them?" he asked, putting one hand in his pocket.

Rukia smiled, a genuine smile, as she watched the people she barely knew walk off out of her view, "Not really, no." She then walked on, leaving him confused. Debating whether to question her about it further or just leave her be, he went on after her.

"And just wondering, where are you going anyways?" she asked, unconsciously interrupting him as he opened his mouth.

"To an acquaintance's store," he said, dread definitely evident in his voice. "I'd rather not, but I have nowhere else to stay in this world other than… Yeah, I have no place to stay." His mind drifted from the Urahara shoten to Hiyori and Lisa's apartment, and to be honest, he would rather stay at Urahara's than Hiyori's apartment any day, even if the store were infested with large mutant cockroaches.

Rukia nodded her head, thinking before shrugging to herself, "Well, if you want, I could just let you stay at my empty apartment.

"I live alone, and no one should be visiting other than Orihime and Tatsuki."

Ichigo thought for a moment, his options running through his head. If her friends decided to come to her apartment, and he happened to be there, could he just say he was a distant friend and call it day? Or would they give him a hard time? "I don't know, Rukia. Seems kind of weird."

"What's so weird about it? Sure, you'd be staying in a dead person's house, but you're also dead too," she said, not seeing the problem. Sure, there was the chance of Orihime and Tatsuki seeing him, but that could be solved with a lie. Besides, _someone_ needed to feed Chappy after all! And it did get a bit lonely when you were dead and couldn't talk to anyone. "Plus, I need someone to feed my bunny."

At that, he froze in his spot and looked at her, his eyebrows high on his forehead, "Your bunny? You want me to feed your bunny? Is that why you offered to let me stay at your apartment?"

Guilty, she looked away innocently, "Possibly? Do you want to or not? It's sort of a payment for not sending me up right away."

"Fine, then I'll at least not have to find you on your last day."

She smirked, and walked forward towards the direction of her home.

Once there, she told him the passcode and he punched it in with much success. The door unlocked with a blue light and opened a crack by itself, allowed Ichigo to easily push the door open. He walked inside and looked around, impressed, "This is pretty spacious for only you, and it's much more modern than the Urahara shoten."

"It is isn't it? It's only ever been me, so there's no need for it to be messy."

Actually, back in Seireitei, his office and quarters were pretty unorganized, so the fact that she kept her home this neat was something to applaud her about.

"Ah," he said, following her as she led him to the rooms of her apartment. She had two rather large bedrooms with one being hers, and the other, a spare she never used. It had a small bed and a night stand in it, which was enough for him since he wouldn't be in the room other than to sleep.

"And this is Chappy," she directed her hand towards her white rabbit who was currently grooming herself. "Cute isn't she?"

He shrugged, leaning against the wall, "All rabbits look the same to me, so I don't see some as cute and others as ugly."

A frown made its way to her face at his lack of ogling, "Well, all bunnies are cute. There exist no ugly bunnies so you can kiss that opinion good bye."

Lifting an orange brow, he crossed his arms, coming to the conclusion that she adored the fluffy long-eared creatures. "'Chappy' has been the only one keeping you company?"

"Pretty much," she said, petting confused the said bunny through the top of cage. "Not that I mind; I like being alone." She then walked out, and headed for the kitchen.

She wasn't sure if shinigami could get hungry, but since he was sort of a "human" right now, she assumed he would. To confirm her assumption, he began to talk about how pluses like her were never hungry, but once in the Soul Society, if they contain a high amount of reiatsu, they will begin to get hungry. He also described himself as a faucet since he constantly led out tons of reiatsu, even after being able to control the majority of it after years of practice.

"And this gigai," he said, pointing his thumb into his chest, "is specially made just so that I don't attract tons of hollows."

She nodded her head, as if she actually understood everything he was saying. Even after two nights of letting everything process in her brain, she still couldn't believe this diverse world existed beyond the reach of humans; it was otherworldly, literally.

"So, shinigami just come here and wait till hollows come around?"

"That's as simple as it gets, so yes."

"Hm… you seem like you have something else to do. You had that wooden badge like object strapped around your arm yesterday, so you must have some authority since all the other shinigami I've seen never had that around their arms," she sat down on the couch and leaned against the armrest while he sat on the other side.

The side of his mouth quirked up a bit, "Well, you could say I do. I'm a fukutaicho, meaning I'm second in my division." Feeling only a tiny bit smug, he didn't process what Rukia said completely. It took him a few more seconds before he tilted his head, his eyebrows even more scrunched up than usual. "There were other shinigami that you saw? I didn't see or sense any others than the two that were already stationed here on the other side of this town."

She chuckled, looking at the ceiling, "I meant the shinigami that I saw when I was alive. I saw a few them from time to time on the roofs of people's houses."

Ichigo blinked in surprise, "So, wouldn't that make you a medium?"

"Not quite. I could only see spirits and shinigami from time to time, and I never saw hollows, so I can't really be called a 'medium,'" she shrugged, turning her head to the window and looking out intently, as if searching for something. She was feeling the pressure she had felt yesterday, and concluded that she definitely didn't like the feeling. It wasn't like the feeling was of a massage of course, but it wasn't painful either. It was like a congested type of feeling.

Unaware of her discomfort, he opened his mouth to reply when his hollow detector going off, making him stop in his tracks to pull the little device out and look at the screen. "Oh, gotta go. Hollow on the loose," he brought out what looked like a "Pez" dispenser and popped a candy-like thing into his mouth. As if things couldn't get any weirder, his shinigami form separated completely from his gigai and disappeared in a flash. His artificial body wasn't left limp though, it blinked and whispered something about being free before noticing her presence and turning to her.

As if it were hit by a bus, it widened its eyes in surprise. Out of nowhere, it pushed its –Ichigo's- mop of orange hair back, a mischievous smirk on its- er, Ichigo's face?

"Hey, babe," it said, with a male voice that wasn't Ichigo's.

Lifting her eyebrows high on her head, she pressed her foot into its –Ichigo's- face as it tried to get closer to her on the couch. "Not happening, buddy," she scoffed, kicking it away.

* * *

Since it was little past noon, and she was rather bored, Rukia left her apartment to see how Orihime's bakery was faring. The bubbly woman made cakes, cupcakes, and any other culinary sweet imaginable. She also designed cakes, so her bakery was rather popular, especially around holidays. She kept her original recipes out of the menu, mostly because they weren't that appetizing, but no one told her that to her face of course.

Sitting on the counter she watched as people bought slices of cake, and ordered specially designed pies and cakes. The workers ran around wildly, trying to serve every customer to the best of their ability. She grinned, happy that her friend's business was successful. Noticing some auburn hair in the back, she floated over to find a rather frustrated looking Orihime.

Her hair was tied messily, and it seemed she was looking for something. She was rustling through the kitchen as the other workers kept on working, trying their best to not get in her way. "Where is the fondant crown? It took weeks to make and the party's in three days!" she questioned, the other cake designers shrugging, also looking around. She closed her eyes and exhaled deeply, regaining her usual composure. "Okay, if we don't find it, we will be in major trouble. So, whoever finds it gets a raise." As expected, everyone who wasn't a cashier began searching around.

Rukia wasn't sure if she should roll her eyes, or laugh. Orihime, when frustrated or mad could be driven to insanity, so to think this is how she approached the problem was rather amusing.

After an hour of looking, and with no luck, Orihime sighed leaving the work area into her office, Rukia following behind. Not so bubbly anymore, she sat at her desk and looked through her planner, and calendar, her face adorning a frown much unlike her. It seemed all expenses were paid for by the customer already, and the fondant crown she was looking for would take another week to make unless she worked on it non-stop.

Rukia frowned, wanting to help. If she were alive, she could have helped, but no, she was dead. The dead were not meant to interfere in the lives of the living.

Seeing as Orihime was busy, she floated through the walls and exited the bakery through the back door, but not before noticing a broken fondant crown in a trash bin in the back. She blinked at it, crossing her arms as a trio of girls were gossiping near the door, something about an accident and hiding a secret, which pretty much answered Orihime's problem.

_Typical…_

She scowled, almost considering telling the auburn haired woman, only to remember that she was, obviously, dead. She thought back to the normally happy-go-lucky Orihime she knew, anger boiling within her at her lack of usefulness. She was deceased! What the hell could she do now other than confuse people more and creep the shit out of them?

Leaving the bakery in a huff, she felt a wave of pressure again, most likely coming from the other side of town where Ichigo probably was. She shivered, moving as far away as she could, towards Tatsuki's apartment. The pressure never went away, but it was at least weaker, and if she really tried, she could ignore it to some degree.

"What do you mean?" Approaching her destination, she could hear Tatsuki talking to someone over the phone, not sounding particularly happy.

Walking through walls, she sat on Tatsuki's counter, listening as her friend spoke to whomever. "You can't be serious. I was never given the file, there's no way," the other woman said, a look of disbelief on her face. "By tonight? If I don't even have it, how can I hand it in?"

Scoffing, Tatsuki listened for another five minutes before hanging up, calling the phone, or rather, the person who was just on the other line, a jackass and throwing the phone the counter. "Tonight, he says. Green folder, he says. Burn in hell, Sato!" she then stomped to her room to find said file, causing Rukia to grin, not from the other woman's misery, but from the different way the situation was handled.

Out of curiosity, Rukia looked around the apartment for a green file, and was surprised to find three. They were already opened with papers thrown around, so the file must have been a different one. Maybe a different shade?

She jumped in surprise when Tatsuki's dog jumped through her, obviously expecting her to be… solid? It barked a few times, and walked around her in circles before giving up and returning to its bed. Following the medium sized canine, she entered the living room where she sat down on the couch, enjoying Tatsuki's worn by extremely comfortable furniture. She looked around, trying to find a place where the file could possibly be. Even if she did find it, there was nothing she could do about it. When she spoke, people could only hear fragments, or mumbles of what she said, and she had to concentrate hard to be able to move and touch items without passing through them, like when she pet Chappy.

Suddenly, an idea came to her and she got up, looking hard between the cushions of the couch set, satisfaction plastered on her face when she found an olive mustard colored folder stuck in between the couch and the cushions.

Again, how typical.

Her satisfaction lasted for barely a minute when she realized, her efforts were once again useless. It's not like she could just hand the file to Tatsuki and be on her way. Ghosts simply did not do that. She tried getting Tatsuki's dog's attention to possibly get him to bring the file to his owner, but no such luck since the canine was lazy as well as not the sharpest tool in the shed. Frustrated, she shook herself, trying to calm herself down. She was about to leave when the phone rang, probably whoever was on the phone before. She heard Tatsuki answer with a rather angry voice before passing the walls, her chain of fate rattling as she descended three floors.

"Great, I'm useless _and_ dead," she murmured to herself, crossing her arms.

Before when she was alive, and didn't have the power to eavesdrop and see what everyone was doing, she wasn't expected to help fix any problems, especially when she didn't even know they existed. But as a ghost, she saw all these problems, and even knew how to fix them and what actually happened. And typical of life, it was only when she was dead.

Later, she found herself walking around the bridge, spending her whole afternoon there even until the sun began to set. She loitered for hours, just thinking. People walked pass her, as well as through her, reminding her that she wasn't one of them anymore. She saw very few pluses, and chose to ignore them since she never liked talking to people even when she was alive. One could say she was sort of anti-social. Soon, the roads began to get less busy, and the pedestrian section was completely empty, save for one or two people who walked by occasionally.

Sick of walking, she stopped, looking out at the horizon as the sun slowly set. The breeze blew her hair away from her face, and swayed the bloody clothing she was beginning to get use to.

"What's with the long face, Kuchiki?" She jumped a bit in surprise and looked behind her to see Ichigo with his sword neatly sheathed.

She rolled her eyes and instantly relaxed, "Oh, I don't know? Being dead?" her normal sarcasm returning to her voice. For some reason, even though she just met him yesterday, he had a relaxing presence that put at ease. It was probably because he was the only other person-er, spirit she could talk to.

"Ah."

They stood in silence for another good five minutes before he moved up to the railing, admiring the sunset. "It's okay to feel useless, you know? You're dead, what better reason do you have?

"There's nothing you can do for them anymore," he said, leaning on the railing of the bridge, glancing at Rukia from his peripheral vision.

She scrunched her eyebrows and looked down at the water, resting her arms on the railing, "I know that, but seeing their daily problems, and knowing how to solve them, but not being able to… it's a nuisance," she said, exhaling.

Ichigo sighed, enjoying the breeze that blew his orange strands away from his face, "Can't say no to that," he looked up the twilight sky, thinking. "It seems you haven't completely accepted death yet."

Rukia rolled her eyes, "Who can within a few days?" she chuckled, pushing herself off the railing. "There's no point in sulking anymore," she suddenly felt the pressure again, like she had all day.

She scrunched her eyebrows, "Oh, and by the way, there's a hollow over there," she said, pointing in the direction where a garganta had opened, a hollow coming through.

He widened his eyes as his hollow detector went off after she pointed it out. Normally pluses couldn't sense hollows, but she sensed it even before his hollow detector went off.

She might actually be useful for something after all.

Nodding his head to her as a "thanks," he disappeared in a flash like he did earlier back at her apartment, still not seizing to amaze her. Strangely, she kind of admired Ichigo for being a shinigami. He was technically saving pluses from getting devoured by ridding the hollows, and purifying the corrupted souls so that they could rest in peace. The idea almost made her want to become one, but that was ludicrous. She was sure only certain people could become shinigami. There were probably only a few of them, spirits who were special, but she was only assuming, so maybe she would ask Ichigo about it sometime.

Becoming a shinigami didn't sound bad at all, and she wanted to know more about this "Soul Society" place. He said it was a good place, but not quite on par with what humans called, "heaven." Good didn't mean great, in Rukia's opinion.

She did ask him about the Soul Society, but he always said she would find out soon. And she wasn't sure if she was excited or scared about the idea of going to a whole different world she never heard about before.

Oh, that's right. She only had three days left, and tomorrow was her funeral. And before she knew it, it would be her time to leave.

How wonderful?

* * *

_Preview…_

"_It's fine, Arisawa. I know him," said Uryu, staring at Ichigo intently as the shinigami did the same back at him._

"_Long time no see, Ishida," Ichigo smirked, some tension evident in the air._

_Rukia, next to Ichigo, widened her eyes, looking back and forth at the two as Orihime and Tatsuki did the same, very openly surprised, "How do you know each other?" asked the females in unison, Rukia whispering to Ichigo._

"_It's a long story," the two men said._

_Uryu turned his attention to the ghost of one of Orihime's best friends, he didn't say anything, but made eye contact with her, further confusing her. She looked behind her in case someone was standing behind her, but found no one. _

"_Ano… Ichigo, is he staring at me?" she whispered into the orange haired shinigami's ear. _

"_Of course, he is, idiot."_

_The bespectacled man smirked, "Oi, Kurosaki, who are you talking to?" he said, amusement evident on his face, earning a glare from the other man._

* * *

**A/N:** Only I would put a preview from the last chapter at the end of this chapter, haha.

**_ Tell me what you think! Much appreciated!  
_**


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